30-30 guns besides lever?

My Grandfather has a bolt action 30-30.

I think it may be a Remington.

I haven't seen it in years, but they do (did???) make them.

valnar said:

I'm not sure another Bolt-action would be worth it, but if a semi-auto existed in .30-30, that might be pretty cool.

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I had to do a internet search for a semi auto 30-30 and google laughed at me.

I don't know of any semi auto 30-30s but there was the Savage 170 pump action.https://www.google.com/search?q=sav...OO5KfKAhWBXBoKHYe8Dt4QsAQIHA&biw=1600&bih=789

Levers, pumps, bolts, and single shots have been made that I am aware of.

I have a Stevens 340b bolt gun in 30-30. And a 94 Win.

It is ok for an old beast. The Savage and Stevens models are very similar.

In the end, the 30-30 cartridge does have limitations. I purchased the Stevens because the price was low, I have plenty of 30-30 brass for load development and the recoil is low. I have loaded up Hornady FTX (flex tip) bullets that are decent for shorter range deer.

RW Dale on this sight knows a lot about 30-30 bolt guns.

I have never heard of a semi-auto 30-30. What I know of the cartridge, I would rather own a semi in 7mm-08. No offense intended to the venerable 30-30.

Swanee

A 336 with a microgroove barrel is probably the ideal gun for a 30-30 they are more than accurate for any range that a 30-30 is good for.The only advantage with a bolt would be pointed bullets.In my opinion

Magnum Research 30-30 Single Action.

http://www.magnumresearch.com/Firearms/Magnum-Research-3030-Win-Revolver-10-inch-Barrel.asp

The Mexican semi-auto Mondragon rifle was offered in .30-30 Winchester, albeit in very small numbers.

The most prolific is the Stevens 340. I had one. It was a no frills rifle but I liked it.

I've owned just about all of the alternative 30/30 configurations

Bolt actions from Remington and savage/Stevens

A TC encore

A uberti low wall

And even a revolver.

I've never heard of a semiautomatic 30/30. Remington made a slightly modified version of the cartridge in rimless for for its model 8 autoloader

Savage 340A. I have a 1953 model and it is a very good shooting rifle. I shoot steel with mine for fun and easily ring the 250yrd gong(18") standing off-hand with Williams FP-TK Peeps/Lyman 17a globe and 150g FMJ's

Still lots of aftermarket support for these rifles. I found the sights, scope mount, extra mags and even a new stock(not yet installed)

Pic before the sights and stock was installed


New unfinished stock from Gunville


I got into hand-loading because of this rifle. Since box 30-30 ammo is all round or flat nose, I wanted some ballistic tipped loads for it and much money later, I'm loading for it.

They are a single lug design bolt but they are very strong.

My Grandfather has a bolt action 30-30.

I think it may be a Remington.

I haven't seen it in years, but they do (did???) make them.

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Remington M788. That is the holly grail of the bolt 30-30 world!

I'm going to disagree with you on the strength of the savage bolt gun.

In my experience they are not nearly as strong as a Marlin 336 as exhibited as wild POI shifts and brief brass life if pressure is pushed anything over factory 30/30 levels.

I think you'll also find that there's virtually nothing to be gained loading spitzers in 30/30

All but the shortest bullets are too long for a 340 or 788 magazine and bullets intended to expand at 30/06 speeds struggle when impacting a good 700+ fps slower. With a sane zero trajectory is virtually unchanged vs traditional 30/30 bullets

If loading "super 30/30" is your goal you need a single shot.

SARuger said:

Remington M788. That is the holly grail of the bolt 30-30 world!

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I bought into that hype and gunbokered a like new 788 in 30/30 to my local dealer.

I HATED IT

The magazine was super short, it had a sloppy goofy two piece bolt that yielded variable headspace and the thing cycled with the smoothness and svelt grace of a rusty hi-lift jack. The 788's for rimmed rounds are a great deal different than the outstanding 308 based ones.

The holy grail 30/30 is a Ruger no1 or THIS

How about the H&R single shot in 30-30? They recently stopped making the single shots but you can still buy them new.

The Savage/Stevens 340 and 325 rifles were made to sell for just under $100 at places like Western Auto. They were for people who could not afford the luxury of a lever action.

For the money, they are a heck of a good rifle. With a Williams peep sight, mine shoots around 2 MOA.

They are not to be hot rodded. The single lug design is not capable of the strength of a two lug design.

However, with the Hornady FTX bullet and Leverevolution powder, you have a firearm capable enough for deer at 200-250 yards. Some 130 grain spitzer bullets will seat and shoot properly. There are loads available for these bullets that do not exceed pressure spec.

With cast bullets, they are an absolute blast to shoot: mild recoil, cheap ammo, and all that. I don't know where you would get more fun for less money.

The one I have has a chamber that is slightly smaller than spec, so full length resized range pickup brass will not fit in the chamber. Factory ammo and new brass works fine, and can be neck sized. I even worked out a $6 fix for resizing the case head area of the brass.

jmorris said:

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Thanks for that image JMorris -- I knew Browning had done such a thing but I never knew exactly how or seen that diagram. IIRC he used an 1873 model which was basically a pistol caliber rifle .... don't know how it would have worked with .30-30.

I've got a Savage 340 and a Handi-Rifle single-shot in .30-30 (and a Marlin 336 Lever - I like the round ). All 3 of those came from pawn shops for less than $175. It was within the last 6-7 years so inflation hasn't done much there, but now that every pawn shop can check prices on Gunbroker you don't see deals like that too often anymore.

Not aware of any semi-autos though. The rimmed cartridge just doesn't work well there. Remington did make the 788 in .30-30 for a time which IMHO would be the BEST version of it, but those rifles tend to fetch a premium.

valnar said:

Thanks everyone. I have enough bolt-actions

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Not possible .

It's strange - when it comes to handguns I don't care for revolvers at all - it's almost all semi-autos. For my rifles though, I absolutely love bolt guns.

R.W., sorry about your poor experience with the 788. When I shot in cast bullet assn. postal matches waaaaay back, that seemed to be the one that constantly bested my pre-64 M70. I had three 788s, a 222, a 243 and a 308, all really good shooters.
Back to original post question:
TC G2, Old Savage/Stevens/Springfield 340/840/whatever, Savage 170, Ruger #3, Rolling Block replicas, and I think the old Win 54 was produced in 30-30.
I have seen a few Sharps replicas as well as a rebarrelled Ballard.
I personally now only have a TC Contender carbine, an old 336 Marlin and a Contender handgun in 30-30. The 10" Contender seems way louder/flashier than a 30-30 should. The carbine is tame and the 336 is even tamer.
Nice thing about non-levers, and 99 Savages, is the pointed bullet use. I use PSPs in weights from 125 up to about 170 as well as some cast pointed bullets, Lyman 311413 for instance.

I rebarreled a Mosin Nagant to 30-30.
I have a few Savage 219 break action 30-30s.
I have a Springfield bolt action 30-30.

Then I have the usual lever action 30-30s; Win 94, Marlin 336, Sav99.

Of all of the above, the only one I ever shot at a target was the Win 94 back in 2004.
It does good enough at 100 yards, but I shot a deer at 629 yards with a 6.5-06 in October 2015, so 30-30s are not right for me now.

My grandfather shot mountain goats with a 30-30 lever action in the Alaskan Gold rush.